Joshua Tree teacher sentenced for sex crimes with minors

SAN BERNARDINO - A former first-grade teacher was sentenced to 60 years to life Tuesday for committing several lewd acts with minors.

Caleb Douglas Hesse, 52, of Joshua Tree, accepted a plea bargain last month and pleaded guilty to four counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child and one count of oral copulation with a minor under 14 years old.

Deputy District Attorney Jane Templeton said Hesse pleaded guilty to five counts for the five identified victims.

"He could have gotten hundreds of years because of the amount of victims and the number of times," she said.

Hesse was originally charged with 17 counts of sex crimes, but the remaining counts were dismissed, Templeton said. Officials never located all of the victims.

A former teacher and camp counselor, Hesse spent a lot of time with children, Templeton said.

In August, Hesse told a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy that he had inappropriate contact with an unknown number of boys, according to a news release. The deputy contacted detectives with the Sheriff's Crimes Against Children Detail, who began a lengthy investigation.

Officials learned that Hesse was employed with the Morongo Unified School District since 1987 and was most recently a first-grade teacher at Friendly Hills Elementary School in Joshua Tree.

Hesse had also been a youth volunteer with the Evangelical Free Church in Yucca Valley since the early 1980's, according to the news release.

Hesse was arrested on Aug. 15 and booked into jail in lieu of $2.5 million.

"Mr. Hesse is very remorseful, very apologetic," defense attorney Jason Oei said Tuesday after the sentencing. "He was willing from the beginning to accept responsibility for his actions."

During the hearing Oei informed the court that his client, who was wearing a green jumpsuit, had prepared a written apology that he wanted to read.

But the judge denied that request, referencing the victims and their families members, who were in the courtroom.